The Corruption: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

 

This often works by an interesting rule: [[Mooks]] and [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]] tend to be turned into raving, mindless beasts/monsters. If the hero or the villain catches it, they get [[Cursed With Awesome]] superpowers. [[Heroic Willpower]] is probably the reason for this [[Stages of Monster Grief|temporary(?) emotional stabilization]]. Named villains and extras will usually [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|give in to it]] much more quickly for the powers, and quickly [[Transhuman Treachery|betray humanity]] because of it. Expect them to get [[Drunk On the Dark Side]] and suffer a [[Superpower Meltdown]] because of it. Remember, [[Evil Is Not a Toy]].

 

Not to be confused with [[Metroid Prime|the third game in the Metroid Prime trilogy]] (even though it uses this trope as a critical story element).

 

== [[Anime]] ==

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'''s [[Black Magic]] seems to be like this, giving superpowers while slowly turning poor Negi {{spoiler|into a demon}}, with side effects of acute magical poisoning from the negative emotions it enhances; the further the poisoning and transformation progress, the more the [[Power Incontinence]] springs up. Played with in that he ''doesn't really mind'', citing that he's "too upbeat" for it to kill him with negative emotion poisoning, and he already knows at least one literal {{spoiler|[[Noble Demon]]}}.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', the cursed seals, Sasuke's being a prominent example.

* Ichigo's hollow persona in ''[[Bleach]]'', until he does his training with the Vizard {{spoiler|or maybe not, as of chapter 350}}.

** Again, like in Naruto, No longer an Issue.

** Yugi plays the Seal during one match, proving that he ''can'' be a mean little bugger... [[For Your Own Good|Of course, it was implied that it could well have been an act]]. Yugi was putting on to force Yami out of the mental rut he'd gotten into in Yugi's absence.

* Happens to Yomi in ''[[Ga-Rei]]'' {{spoiler|at least a couple of times,}} because a [[Mineral MacGuffin|Sesshouseki]] possessed her.

* In ''[[Freezing]]'', the Stigma that grants the [[Super Soldier|Pandoras]] the amazing powers they use to fight against the [[Eldritch Abomination|Novas]] {{spoiler|is essentially ''Nova tissue''}}. The risk of [[The Corruption]] taking over a Pandora is actually pretty low since Pandoras only have a few Stigmas attached to them. {{spoiler|The people in charge of Pandora development came up with this policy after one Pandora with about ''twenty'' Stigmas fell victim to [[The Corruption]] and ''became a Nova''. This Pandora was the protagonist's ''older sister'', Kazuha. Since Kazuya has a similar "Stigma body" (the reason he can use "Freezing" without first forming a bond to a Pandora), Yumi Kim is concerned that he might suffer the same fate}}. {{spoiler|The Novas can also force [[The Corruption]] to take over the Pandoras by ''eating them''}}.

** {{spoiler|And now the people in charge want to see if the Corruption can be controlled and weaponized after the main character forced herself into Nova Mode and managed to bring herself back. Two Pandora veterans are horrified at this idea as they saw what happened to the aforementioned Pandora with the twenty Stigmas.}}

** A very similar thing happens in the Pokémon anime, too. The Blue and Red Orbs also absorb into whoever holds them for long enough. Pikachu becomes possessed by the Blue Orb, which causes him to go insane and electrocute everyone around him and obsess over helping Groudon defeat Kyogre. [[Big Bad|Archie]] also gets possessed by the Red Orb.

* An odd case in ''[[Rosario to Vampire]]'': vampire blood injected into a wounded person will at first heal them and temporarily grant them vampiric powers, but repeated doses will begin to eat away at their [[Body Horror|body]] and [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|mind]]. The result [[Our Ghouls Are Creepier|isn't]] [[Humanoid Abomination|pretty]].

 

 

* Arguably [[Iron Man]] and the Extremis Dose.

* Venom and other symbiotes from ''[[Spider Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]''.

* Every time ''[[Spawn]]'' uses the powers being a Hellspawn grants him, he gets a little bit closer to completely losing his humanity and becoming the commander of [[The Legions of Hell]].

* In the IDW ''[[Transformers]]'' series, one of the earliest Primes, "Nova Prime" became infected with a parasitic energy known as "The Darkness" that dwelt in the ominously named [[Mordor|Dead Universe]]. It was unclear exactly how much of what he did was down to his own expansionist philosophies and how much was the result of the Darkness controlling him, but it was clearly sentient on some level.

 

== Fan Works ==

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* John Carpenter's ''Prince of Darkness'' is all about this trope.

* Seth Brundle brings [[The Corruption]] down on himself in ''[[The Fly]]''.

 

* ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' 2008: Ahriman's essence - a black tar-like substance ''called'' corruption - is a bit of a subversion. While it drains the land of life around it, it also only afflicts people who [[Deal With the Devil|made a pact with Ahriman]]. So really, if you become a Corrupted, it's your own fault.

** Making a [[Deal With the Devil]] makes you into a more Badass corrupted and lets you keep some of your original personality. Just getting conquered by Ahriman or falling into the corruption turns you into a Mook version. Elika also mentions that some people who made deals just got turned into the mindless soldier version anyway.

* Fel (demonic energy) has this effect in ''Warcraft'' universe. Demons seem to radiate fel energy and any area with large amounts of demons will become either a barren wasteland or a twisted mockery of its former self. Living beings exposed to fel energy will mutate, making them more powerful but turning them insane, and even causing them to become demons after long enough exposure. In fact, most demons were mortals before they were corrupted by fel energy.

** Also seen with the influence of the [[Eldritch Abomination|Old Gods]] on mortals. Their Curse of Flesh transformed the immortal stone creations of the Titans and into mortal flesh and blood beings who were more susceptible to their whispers.

* ''[[Terraria]]'' has a biome literally referred to as "The Corruption", which primarily consists of nigh-indestructible stone that spawns eldritch abominations and infects local plantlife, spreading it as far as plantlife can spread. It can effectively take over sections of the map far beyond where it initially appears. Fortunately it can't take over anything but dirt so it can't spread too far...usually.

** Of course, once the [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|Wall of Flesh]] is defeated in [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|The Underworld]], The Corruption [[Up to Eleven|powers up]], gaining the ability to spread through any natural block. The only way to stop it now is by countering it with [[Sugar Bowl|The Hallow]]. Though The Hallow is merely a prettier corruption, as it spreads just like The Corruption, and some of the enemies found in The Hallow are just as dangerous as those found in The Corruption. The Hallow doesn't totally kill natural plant life, though, while The Corruption ruins everything it touches.

** Ledgermayne, the seventh Lord of Chaos, is chaos magic personified. To be fair, it was just a mass of mana floating in the Para-Elemental Plane of Magic when Drakath's chaotic influence gave it self-awareness. So much that Ledgermayne was uncontrollable, even by its own [[Truly Single Parent]].

** There's also the Chaos Shaper class, which players can buy after having had 15 months of membership in total. It lets them use the power of Chaos to land unpredictable effects on either themselves or their targets.